Collocations with bigay and ibigay | Filipino Grammar

The bigay family describes literal transfer, but it also supports conventional expressions for giving advice, granting permission, paying attention, making way, emphasizing a point, and formally notifying someone. These meanings do not come from the root alone. They belong to combinations such as magbigay ng payo, magbigay-daan, bigyang-pansin, and ipagbigay-alam.

Voice morphology is part of each combination. Magbigay selects a giver, ibigay selects a transferred theme, and bigyan selects a recipient. Some metaphorical collocations strongly prefer one of these forms, so changing the affix may change both the syntax and what the expression conventionally means. The bigay verb reference gives the complete aspect families.

A compact collocation map

Pattern	Typical meaning	Selected participant	Register
magbigay ng payo/babala/pahintulot	perform an abstract transfer	giver is pivot	neutral
ibigay ang sagot/pangalan/detalye	provide selected information	information is pivot	neutral
bigyan ng oras/pagkakataon	allot time or opportunity to someone	recipient is pivot	neutral
magbigay-pansin / magbigay ng pansin	pay attention	attender is pivot	neutral; two accepted shapes
bigyang-pansin / bigyang-diin	select something for attention or emphasis	topic is pivot	neutral to formal
magbigay-daan	yield or enable something to proceed	enabling party or event is pivot	neutral to formal
magbigay-pugay	pay tribute	honoring group is pivot	(formal)
ipagbigay-alam	formally notify or make known	announced matter is selected	(formal/administrative)

Abstract nouns enter the ordinary transfer frame

Advice, warning, permission, and explanation behave like themes transferred from a giver to a recipient. Actor-voice magbigay selects the source of that contribution.

Nagbigay ang inhinyero ng malinaw na babala tungkol sa bitak sa pader.

The engineer gave a clear warning about the crack in the wall.

Magbibigay ang tagapayo ng libreng payo sa mga aplikante bukas.

The adviser will give the applicants free advice tomorrow.

These are not merely translations of English give. The nouns babala and payo conventionally pair with magbigay ng. The giver is the pivot; the abstract theme takes ng, and the recipient commonly takes sa/kay.

When the information itself is discourse-prominent, ibigay selects it:

Ibigay ninyo sa kawani ang buong pangalan at numero ng inyong aplikasyon.

Give the employee your full name and application number. (plural or respectful)

When the recipient is selected, use bigyan:

Bigyan natin ng sapat na oras ang mga residente para mabasa nila ang panukala.

Let's give the residents enough time to read the proposal. (inclusive we)

The English sentence may look the same, but the Filipino marker frames differ: magbigay ang giver ng theme sa recipient, ibigay ng giver sa recipient ang theme, and bigyan ng giver ng theme ang recipient.

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Learn three aligned frames, then learn which one a collocation favors. Literal transfer alternates freely across voices more often than lexicalized bigyang-diin or ipagbigay-alam does.

Pansin alternates between two established shapes

Both magbigay-pansin and magbigay ng pansin are accepted for “pay attention.” The first is a hyphenated lexical compound; the second keeps pansin as an ng-marked noun phrase.

Magbigay-pansin tayo sa mga palatandaan ng pagguho bago magsimula ang paghuhukay.

Let's pay attention to the signs of a landslide before excavation begins. (inclusive we)

Nagbigay ng pansin ang doktor sa pagbabago ng paghinga ng pasyente.

The doctor paid attention to the change in the patient's breathing.

Patient- or locative-like bigyang-pansin selects the matter receiving attention:

Binigyang-pansin ng ulat ang kakulangan ng mga silid-aralan sa liblib na lugar.

The report called attention to the shortage of classrooms in the remote area. (formal-neutral)

This is not a word-for-word passive of English pay attention. The whole verb binigyang-pansin and the selected ang phrase form an established discourse pattern.

Fixed compounds develop metaphorical meanings

In magbigay-daan, no physical road is transferred. The expression can describe yielding to another traveler or enabling a process or development.

Nagbigay-daan ang dalawang drayber sa ambulansiyang papasok sa makipot na kalye.

The two drivers gave way to the ambulance entering the narrow street.

Nagbigay-daan ang bagong kasunduan sa muling pagbubukas ng pantalan.

The new agreement paved the way for the port to reopen. (formal-neutral)

Magbigay-pugay belongs to commemorations and public statements (formal):

Nagbigay-pugay ang pamayanan sa mga nars na naglingkod noong baha.

The community paid tribute to the nurses who served during the flood. (formal)

The hyphens signal established compound verbs. They are not optional substitutes for the marker ng in every bigay phrase.

Bigyang-diin and ipagbigay-alam are register-sensitive

Bigyang-diin selects a point for emphasis and is common in presentations, reports, and careful explanation. Because bigyan ends in n, linker -g produces bigyang- before the compounded noun.

Bigyang-diin natin na kusang-loob ang pagsali sa pag-aaral.

Let us emphasize that participation in the study is voluntary. (formal-neutral)

Ipagbigay-alam is an established administrative expression meaning to notify or formally make known. In ordinary conversation, ipaalam or sabihin is usually lighter.

Ipinagbigay-alam ng pamunuan na mananatiling sarado ang gusali hanggang Lunes.

Management announced that the building would remain closed until Monday. (formal/administrative)

Using the longest form is not automatically more correct. Register determines whether it sounds appropriately official or unnecessarily bureaucratic.

English give does not choose bigay automatically

English uses give in many phrases whose Filipino equivalents use another verb. Give me a call is Tawagan mo ako, and give it a try is Subukan mo. A literal magbigay ng tawag suggests that a call is a transferable object and is not the conventional neutral expression.

Tawagan mo ako kapag nakumpirma na ang oras ng pagdating.

Give me a call when the arrival time has been confirmed.

Likewise, manganak is the ordinary verb for “give birth”; Filipino does not need an analytic expression modeled on English give + birth.

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When English has give + abstract noun, check the Filipino collocation. Some select bigay—magbigay ng payo—while others select a dedicated verb—tumawag, subukan, manganak.

Negation, questions, and connected use

Hindi ba binigyang-pansin ng komite ang reklamo ng mga mangingisda?

Didn't the committee give attention to the fishers' complaint?

Negation leaves the selected complaint in the ang phrase. It does not convert binigyang-pansin into an actor-voice form.

—Naibigay mo na ba kay Celso ang susi ng bodega? —Hindi pa. Ibibigay ko iyon kasama ng talaan bago magtanghali.

—Have you managed to give Celso the storage-room key? —Not yet. I'll give it to him together with the list before noon.

The exchange contrasts attained-result naibigay with contemplated theme-selecting ibibigay. The selected object is recoverable as iyon in the reply.

Conventional versus merely possible wording

Magbigay ng sagot is conventional when an answer is treated as information supplied. Sumagot is often more direct when the event of responding matters.

Nagbigay ng maikling sagot ang alkalde bago umalis sa bulwagan.

The mayor gave a brief answer before leaving the hall. (answer as supplied content)

Sumagot ang alkalde sa tanong tungkol sa badyet.

The mayor answered the question about the budget. (response event foregrounded)

Neither construction is universally better. The collocation packages information differently, and this difference matters more than matching English give.

Common Mistakes

Combining an actor-voice command with a patient pronoun frame

❌ Magbigay mo kay Liza ang sobre bago siya umalis.

Incorrect — magbigay is actor voice and cannot take mo in this patient-voice command frame.

✅ Ibigay mo kay Liza ang sobre bago siya umalis.

Give Liza the envelope before she leaves.

Keeping kay when the recipient is the pivot

❌ Bigyan mo ng kopya kay Liza pagkatapos ng pulong.

Incorrect — bigyan selects the personal recipient, so use si rather than kay.

✅ Bigyan mo ng kopya si Liza pagkatapos ng pulong.

Give Liza a copy after the meeting.

Translating “give me a call” literally

❌ Magbigay ka sa akin ng tawag kapag nakauwi ka na.

Wrong collocation for the intended meaning — Filipino uses the dedicated verb tumawag or tawagan.

✅ Tawagan mo ako kapag nakauwi ka na.

Give me a call when you get home.

Omitting the linker and hyphen in a fixed compound

❌ Bigyan diin ninyo ang petsa ng huling pagsusumite.

Incorrect form of the fixed compound — bigyan takes linker -g before diin, and the compound is hyphenated.

✅ Bigyang-diin ninyo ang petsa ng huling pagsusumite.

Emphasize the final submission date. (plural or respectful)

Key Takeaways

Literal transfer alternates among magbigay, ibigay, and bigyan according to the selected giver, theme, or recipient. Lexicalized expressions are more selective: learn magbigay-pansin, bigyang-pansin, magbigay-daan, bigyang-diin, and formal ipagbigay-alam as whole forms. English give sometimes points to bigay, but it can also require a dedicated Filipino verb. Voice, fixed spelling, metaphor, and register are all parts of the collocation.

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